INTERVIEW: ALESSIO AVEZZANO

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have recently released the music video for the track ‘Bird Is Flying’, directed by Alessio Avezzano. It’s chock-a-block full of shaky, blurry, disorientating closeups – making for an entrancing music video.

We got the chance to chat with Alessio, to get to know a little bit more about his work, and the making of the wicked music video. Enjoy!

A lot of your work seems oriented around China, what brought you to China?

Like a lot of people I know here, moving here was completely random. I was doing a bit of traveling and fell in love with Shanghai. Haven’t got tired of it yet.

I see you’ve worked with other bands to direct music videos – what has drawn you to the Chinese music scene?

Living here it’s easier to meet with local musicians, I’ve also worked with musicians the UK and USA.

Can you tell us about some of the other music videos you’ve directed?

Bird with Airwalker is one of my favorites but took particularly long to edit. Exhale Therapy was a super small budget but a chance to work with DJ Shadow.

How does the style of the Bird Is Flying music video compare to your other work?

Bird is flying was made in 40 minutes with only a few light and lens tricks to make it stand out.

How would you describe your cinematic style?

I’m not sure. I’m always trying new things especially with music videos that I don’t feel like I’m settled to one style yet.

Can you talk a little bit about your creative process behind the Bird Is Flying music video?

No budget, no time, but a couple of hours free between us to get something shot. Not ideal and something I’m looking to do less of in future, but the results kind of complimented out limitations, I think.

How long did it take you to shoot the music video?

40 minutes

How involved was the band in the creative process? Did their vision for the music video match yours?

Hahahahahahaha

Did the song itself offer much inspiration to the video? In what ways did it influence your vision?

I love the song and the band are fantastic so I’m happy to just have made something with them.

The video consists of several fast paced close ups, which drift in and out of focus. Can you talk a bit about your decision to shoot the video this way?

I used a split diopter to split frames focus in half. The decision to shoot that way was again, to make a standard rehearsal room location shoot interesting.

What’s the next big project you’ll be working on?

Looking to do something visually stunning for my third video with round eye. And hopefully the same goes for Dan and Sharon’s new band, Future Gaze.

Do you see yourself continuing to work in China? Or would you like to take your creative process into other countries?

I’m certainly based here for the foreseeable future, and of course I would love to travel for collaborations more often.

If you enjoyed the music video check out more of Alessio Avezzano’s work on his website and get a copy of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ A Million Farewells from our shop now!